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Ever since the Medici family of Florence popularized the use of written documents to facilitate trade between city states and nations in the 15th century, letters of credit and their progeny, bills of lading, warehouse receipts and similar instruments of title, have consisted of written documents. Commercially effective and reasonably efficient for hundreds of years, letters of credit and documents of title in tangible form have become increasingly outmoded because of economic and temporal constraints. A recent article in <i>The Wall Street Journal</i> estimated that at least 5% of the cost of all international trade transactions was attributable solely to the cost of documentation [Gabriel Kahn, "Financing Goes Just-in-Time," <i>The Wall Street Journal,</i> June 4, 2004, Section A, p. 10]. With the growth of international trade and the relocation of manufacturing from industrialized nations to countries with cheaper labor costs, international shipments have increased dramatically as cost-conscious businesses search for increased efficiency. The historic standard of a 2-week turnaround for a written letter of credit for a secured bill of lading transaction and the cost of associated paperwork have created a need for a cheaper, faster system. Not surprisingly, merchants have found opportunities to use the Internet and other electronic arrangements to help solve this problem. This article will describe some of the alternative electronic bill of lading arrangements that have arisen since the 1990s for shipping goods internationally and the impetus that their spread provided to a Uniform Commercial Code working group that responded by overhauling and updating Article 7 to make it more reflective of modern trade practice.

Aside from payroll, real estate costs are a large law firm's most significant expense. Even under the best circumstances, such expenditures &mdash; sometimes called occupancy costs &mdash; consume 8% to 10% of the typical large firm's annual revenue. These costs are not confined to rent; many firms finance millions of dollars worth of expenses associated with the construction of their space.

A special insert to November's issue features our picks for the law firm leaders that best support marketing.

For many people, going online is the first step in buying anything. <br>Yet, some firms refuse to sell online. Sound odd ' behind the times? On its face, perhaps, but sound business reasons explain such "backward" behavior ' and they're the same reasons why many brick-and-mortar businesses choose not to accept phone or mail orders.

Four initiatives equally important to the landscape of growth and profitability have for the most part remained separate programs within the scope of law firm planning. These initiatives have been the subject of scrutiny within the legal profession while being included as the criteria and methodology on many lists including The American Lawyer's "A" List. Diversity, pro bono, recruiting and marketing comprise the newly minted platinum, gold, silver and bronze best practices standard for today's law firms. Add to the mix client service and relations and you have the makings of growth and profitability. In this article I will introduce you to an aligned architecture where diversity, pro bono, recruiting and marketing create the "perfect" law firm.

Large and medium size law firms have embraced client surveys as an effective marketing tool for gathering valuable information from clients and the marketplace for almost 25 years. However, they still continue to pay lip service to client relationships but don't incorporate this data into their strategic growth plans for their organization.

Anyone familiar with this column, or my rantings in a variety of other locations, knows that I'm not a huge fan of the billable hour. I think it drives a certain kind of "wrong think" about the value of working smart vs. working long. Law firm management folks also tend to use the billable hour as the one "uber number" to drive all other considerations ' including marketing ' aside. Like they say, when your only tool is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. <br>What surprises me even further about the billable hour, though, is how little its use is exploited as a marketing and business tool.

When it comes to litigation and media relations, the reactions can run as extreme as day and night. One litigator wants the whole world to know her involvement with a lawsuit and be quoted in every single article written on it, while another litigator is unsure about how and when to use media relations and takes the safe approach by avoiding it altogether. Neither are satisfied with the results: the media-hungry litigator had too few reporters call her for interviews, and the media-hesitant litigator wonders why neither him nor his Firm are mentioned in any news reports on his case. <br>In both instances, a media-relations plan specifically focused on pending litigation could have provided a happier medium for both.

This month, we are presenting a special insert focusing on leadership in law marketing. I was privileged to once again have Wisnik Career Enterprises work with me on "The Best of Law Firm Leaders in Marketing." I am also thrilled to have David Freeman, who sits on our Board of Editors, authoring an article on his take on leadership.

Part One of this article, in last month's issue, discussed the attorney-client privilege in general and how the Rules of Evidence and Civil Procedure impact the privilege.